Marvin Hamlisch, the famed Broadway and film composer and principal pops conductor of the San Diego Symphony, died Monday at the age of 68.

Hamlisch collapsed and died after a brief illness, according to his publicist. He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Terre.

Although best known as the composer of the Broadway musical “A Chorus Line” and the film “The Sting,” Hamlisch wrote dozens, if not hundreds, of film scores, musicals and pop tunes that earned him three Academy Awards, four Emmys, four Grammys, a Tony, three Golden Globes and a Pulitzer Prize.

When he died, he still had his sights set on Broadway. He had written the score for a stage version of “The Nutty Professor,” which is now in production in Nashville and is expected to move to New York. He was working on another new musical, “Gotta Dance,” and he was scheduled to write the score for a new film on Liberace, “Behind the Candelabra.”

Still, over the last decade he spent an increasing amount of time conducting orchestras and was proud of his role as principal pops conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony and Pops, Seattle Symphony and the San Diego Symphony.

Hamlisch was in San Diego as recently as early July, when he conducted the traditional “Star Spangled Pops” Summer Pops season-opening concert at Embarcadero Marina Park South.

“We hadn’t seen him in almost a year and I went up and told him he had worried us sick,” said John Stubbs, one of the symphony’s longtime violinists. “He said, ‘Me too.’”

In February, he had canceled his final Winter Pops appearances in Copley Symphony Hall because of illness. But he still flew to San Diego to attend a February fundraising event where he was the guest of honor.

“That just showed what kind of person he was,” said Edward “Ward” Gill, the symphony’s executive director. “He meant so much to us. He was somebody who really wanted to make a difference.”

In 2006, the San Diego Symphony turned to Hamlisch to anchor its efforts to upgrade and expand the pops. Under Hamlisch’s leadership as principal pops conductor, concerts doubled in size, attendance and revenue and became the orchestra’s most lucrative activity.

The orchestra turned to him again when it needed a special composition to honor San Diego for the opening of the symphony’s 2010-11 Centennial Season.

“The sheer beauty of (of San Diego) is amazing,” Hamlisch said in a 2010 U-T interview. “And there’s a ready-get-up-gomanship that I love. I am amazed how many things started in San Diego. I’m amazed by it all.”